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品のない言葉
外国語を学ぶときは、行儀のいい言葉ばかりではなく、やはり学校では教えてくれないような、品のない言葉を覚えたくなるものだ。
筆者も交換留学生として日本に来たとき、早速ホストファミリーに手ほどきを受けてみたのだが…。
Colorful language
When I was an exchange student in Osaka many years ago, a few of us were taken on a trip to an international center, somewhere in the city. On arrival, the first thing one of us did was run to the library, head straight for the largest English-to-Japanese dictionary available, and look up swear words and abusive phrases.
She came back bitterly disappointed. "Look at this!" she exclaimed, while pointing at a photocopy of a dictionary entry. "It'll take me a week to say all that." I looked at the translations for a certain choice phrase that would be useful, say, if you wanted to forcefully and rudely tell someone to go away. In English, this is a succinct and powerful two-word phrase. In Japanese, the various translations of this phrase ran on for dozens of characters. As students who thought it was cool to swear in another language, how, we wondered, were we going to abuse each other in Japanese?
I delicately approached the subject of swearing with my first host family. I asked them what I should say, if I encountered any unwanted attention on a train. My eldest host sister proceeded to tell me what she once yelled at a man whose hand should not have been where it was. It was definitely not something I remember my textbooks teaching me. Nevertheless, I spent most of that evening practising the phrase with her, much to our amusement, and my host dad's embarrassment.
My host sister warned me it was a phrase I could only use for very specific situations. I had hoped for a more multi-purpose phrase, but then I realized that swearing, or "colorful language," doesn't quite work in the same way across languages.
I was 12, when an English friend first introduced me to the world of profanity. I picked up a lot of potty-mouthed things from her, but could never quite bring myself to use them liberally. In Japan, through mock arguments with friends and watching the odd TV drama, I found that being abusive to someone in Japan is not so much about what you say, but how you say it. In Japanese, it seems that a slight twist of a verb ending or inserting a rolling "r" sound, can make the difference between someone just leaving you alone, or running away fearing for their own personal safety!
Sometimes however, the most effective way to abuse someone, is to do it in your own language. I discovered this the one time I found myself yelling at a weirdo to "Back off!," although not exactly in those words. Even though he didn't understand English, without the help of any textbooks, dictionaries or translations, I think the way I delivered my lines opened his eyes and ears to a whole new spectrum of colors in the English language.
- Colorful
- 下品な、口汚い
- head straight
- 一目散に
- swear words
- ののしり言葉
- abusive
- 口汚い
- photocopy
- コピー
- dictionary entry
- 辞書の記載事項
- choice phrase
- えり抜きの言葉
- forcefully
- 強く
- rudely
- 荒っぽく
- succinct
- 簡潔な
- ran on
- 長々と続いた
- for dozens of characters
- 数多くの文字を使って
- swear
- 悪態をつく
- abuse
- ののしる
- delicately
- 慎重に
- unwanted
- 望まない
- eldest host sister
- ホストファミリーの長女のこと
- proceeded to 〜
- 〜し始めた
- yelled at 〜
- 〜をどなりつけた
- much to our amusement, and my host dad's embarrassment
- 私たちはとても楽しかったが、ホストファーザーはひどく困惑していた
- multi-purpose
- いろいろな場面で使える
- across languages
- 言葉を越えて
- profanity
- 口汚い言葉
- potty-mouthed
- 口汚い
- bring myself to 〜
- 〜する気になる
- mock
- 模擬の
- odd
- たまたま見た
- is not so much about 〜, but 〜
- 〜よりも〜だ
- twist
- 変えること
- rolling
- 巻き舌の
- weirdo
- 変なやつ
- Back off!
- 近寄らないで!
- although not exactly in those words
- 正確にはこうした言葉ではなかったが
- way I delivered my lines
- 言葉を発したときの口調
- spectrum of colors
- さまざまな色合い(さまざまな汚い言葉のこと)